The tribe is taking a route directly through mountain valleys to the coast. While the unfamiliar territory has its dangers, this saves them weeks over the longer round trip through the jungle - and hopefully takes them past an old Rumi Runa city that has not been converted into a temple.

What happened

• hunters encountered a giant snow serpent with primal power
  • it seemed to possess a certain intelligence, able to communicate to a degree
  • the snake was slain, it should provide a lot of meat for the tribe, plus valuable skin and teeth
• hunters spotted human footprints in the snow - barefoot
• the party found a dead chosen, killed by the snow snake - but it had been horribly transfigured, its skin stonelike
• the tribe crossed a high pass with strong winds, where the party again proved instrumental to success
• the tribe is struggling with the cold, in particular at nights and due to its lack of shelter
• the party prevented Cuetspalli, a horribly transfigured Chosen of Sinchi Uruq, from killing a gaint Condor that can increase the weight of objects; they have started befriending the Condor
• the party found a spot where all life (and primal energy) had been drained from the environment, leaving an unnatural hollow - Zuma recalled that some servants of the gods have that power
• the party encountered yet another primal beast; this one a mountain predator that is considered an omen of violent change by the Nuqanchik; Ihui threw himself in front of Zumas axe to prevent the encounter from escalating
• the beast can cause echoes of important events; together with Ihui, it healed the fracture in the stone caused by the drain, using their life force
• Tetl Tetchi returned, horribly transformed, to demand obedience and "fresh blood" for Sinchi Uruq
• after the tribe leadership (pcs and chosen) challenged him, the god tried to subdue the tribe throughout a cold, harsh night; this backfired horribly, the tribe is now more united and self-confident than ever
• Ihui followed a hunch and an image by the Echo Stalker to find a giant Megaloceros heading up the valley - towards their camp
• while Ihui was following it, the rest of the group got a warning by the Gravity Condor about danger to Ihui
• Ihui and the Megaloceros were intercepted by Citlali and Cuetzpalli, two Chosen of Sinchi Uruq; Ihui almost died, but was saved by the Echo Stalker interposing
• the rest of the group arrived; after being bloodied, the Chosen focussed on killing the beasts (they called "guardians"); the group managed to keep both beasts alive
• the ghost of Citlali seems anchored to something Zuma possesess; but Cuetzpalli, with no anchor, started to unravel
• the group set off towards the ruins, accompanied by the Echo Stalker (which is called "Tlami" now as the companion of Ihuicatl) and the Ghost of Citlali
• the journey was long and not without danger, but with Tlami as a guide and the resilience they have shown so far, they made it without setbacks
• Acalan sent a prophecy to the group, warning them about the danger of a "head-on" confrontation and urging them to challenge the god on "something it does not even understand"
• at the ruin entrance, Tepoyali caught up to them and brought them items from their past when Tetl Tetchi was still human and with the tribe
• exploring the "ruins" (which were mostly intact except for rubble blocking the entrance), they found them very well-preserved and mostly in their original state from Rumi Runa times
• they found many fascinating things, but had to cut exploration short as the threat of whatever Tetl Tetchi/Sinchi Uruq was doing was still looming
• deep below the Rumi Runa city, they found a primal font of cold, determination, continuity and resistance to change
• Sinchi Uruq was using Tetl Tetchi to extract primal power from the font at a high rate; the human body was falling apart under the pressure of the gods power
• the group presented their items connecting them to the man to Tetl Tetchi, quickly managing to wake him; Sinchi Uruqs powers and servants, while fearsome, were unable to stall their process at all
• finally, Tepoyali presented a scarf she made with Tetl Tetchis daughter for the daughter's wedding; Tetl Tetchi briefly regained control and rejected the god, driving its power out of his body and then dying instantly from his wounds and the transformation
• without an anchor, and exposed to the wrath of the primal beasts that are connected to the font, the essence of Sinchi Uruq was obliterated - the god had risked it all coming here and connecting to the font while the warden beasts still lived, and now paid the ultimate price for it
• a scroll of visions that Zuma had used in the confrontation was overloaded by this clash of magic powers, sending the party into visions of important events at the font
• the party rested at the ruins until the rest of the tribe arrived, further exploring the sacred pool
• when the tribe arrived, a great many wanted to see the old city for themselves; the story that a god had challenged the tribe, lost and *died* from this seems to have shaken most deeply
• in a discussion with Qyuachin and Paqarimuy, they decided
  • a party of ten, including the PCs, Paqarimuy and Cuahtemoc plus some more capable hunters, would continue towards the coast, seeking out other tribes and learning more about the invaders
  • the rest would stay back, further studying the Rumi Runa city, and migrating only nearby until they would meet again at the city ruins after 40 days

What they learned

• it has been a long time since the tribe encountered one of the primal beasts
  • so far, hunting them (and apparently draining them of their power) has been the privilege of the Chosen
  • they are more numerous away from the temples - might they be growing in number again now that so many gods are gone?
  • they seem to be connected to places of strong primal magic, and take their powers from these
• there is an ancient Rumi Runa city, now dormant and mostly ruined, in the valley
  • the city - as all Rumi Runa cities, it seems - was built atop a "primal font", a place of very strong primal power
  • these "fonts" were connected to the cities, enabling many of the magical devices in them to function
  • among the magical devices is a gate connected to constellations, which allows instant travel between Rumi Runa cities - to the ones converted to temples, and to some ... further away?
  • another such device is the sacred pool, were new Ruma Runa were created with a primal magic ritual; this could include "gifting" the soul of a Rumi Runa that had previously been "dissolved" here into the new body
  • there are a number of these souls in the "ancestor storage" chamber; while they can also be mixed with the primal magic in gems to grant someone access to primal magic (as happened with Itzcoatl), this destroys the soul, forever loosing what knowledge it held
  • the beasts connected to the font were "guarding" the font, and with it the ruins
  • some Rumi Runa were trapped in the lower parts of the city when it crumbled; they chose to disconnect their city and die in the cold rather than be found and "consumed" by the gods
  • turning the city "back on" is possible, but will draw attention as the connected font is like a "beacon" for outer entities
• Sinchi Uruq had sent his remaining Chosen here to slay the beasts and claim the font
  • the god must have lost its original body in some way, it was seeking to form a new one with the primal energies from the font
  • the beasts connected to the font were a threat - should the ritual to assemble a body fail or the gods connection to the font weaken, it could be destroyed by the beasts; this is exactly what happened when Tetl Tetchi rejected Sinchi Uruq
• the font is currently "enhancing" the valley a bit; the river is always free of vegetation, there will be new primal beasts created if the existing ones are killed
  • this would end if the power were directed back into the city
• primal entities (spirits and beasts) make a big distinction between killing them (which returns their primal essence to the cycle of life) and destroying them (absorbing their primal essence, as the gods do) - the first is accepted as part of nature, the second is considered a travesty
  • so do the Rumi Runa, it seems
• aside from some tools that rely on their magic, the Rumi Runa were mostly less advanced than the Nuqanchik are today in crafting and arts - only their crystalware and kilns were superior
• outer beings can "take control" or "anchor" to hosts from this world, but if the being is too powerful for the host, it will destroy the host body over time